ABSTRACT
From the formation of the Springbok Legion during wartime, radical white servicemen, mostly communists, saw their involvement in the Legion as part of a broader struggle to change the order of racial and class domination in South Africa. In common with most members of the white left, the political options open to radical Legionnaires were, until 1948, limited by the classic liberal dilemma of the day: although the UP had shown itself to be fundamentally illiberal, it represented the only counter to Afrikaner nationalism within the existing parliamentary structure. The Springbok Legion's history suggests that this political reorientation – from class struggle to national liberation – was rather more complex than either Arenstein's or Routh's testimony indicates. The year 1950 marked a major watershed in the history of the Springbok Legion, as it moved toward rapprochement and ultimately alliance with the black movements for national liberation.
